Meeting Minutes – Monday, March 2, 2020

Yavapai Accommodation School District
2972 Centerpointe East Drive, Prescott, Arizona 86301

Monday March 2, 2020 9:00 A.M.

Also present were: Stan Goligoski – YCESA, Rosemary Agneessens – RASC, Jenn Nelson – YCESA, Joe Howard – PUSD,
Steve King – COCSD, Katy Cavanaugh – Center for the Future of Arizona

Yavapai County Forest Fee Management Association
Board of Directors
Meeting Minutes

Welcome and Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m.by President Brown

Establishment of Quorum and Pledge of Allegiance (President Brown)

A quorum was established

The board said the Pledge of Allegiance

Limited Call to the Public (President Brown)

• The public is invited to speak about any agenda item.
• There is a limit of three (3) minutes per speaker and 20 minutes total.
• Request to speak must be in writing and provided to the Clerk at the beginning of the meeting or prior to any agenda item.
• The President has absolute discretion over procedural matters
• The Board may waive their “Public Participation Policy” as it applies to all speakers.
• Members of the public may indicate their support or opposition to a topic, in writing, that will be noted and entered into the record.
• The Board may not respond to comments from the public, but may ask the facilitator to respond or place the item on a future agenda.

No call to the public.

Discussion Item: Association Purpose and Vision (Superintendent Carter)

Tim Carter read the Purpose and Vision of the Association.

Discussion and Action Items of the Consent Agenda (President Brown):

All items on the Consent agenda may be adopted as a whole with one motion, unless a member of the Board wishes to consider it separately.

1. Approval of Minutes from the Regular Meeting on December 2, 2019
2. Approval of the Regular Meeting Agenda for Monday March 2, 2020

Mardi Read made a motion to approve the consent agenda; Dennis Dearden seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 5/0 by Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read, Kellie Burns, Danny Brown and Dennis Dearden

Information, Discussion Item: Fiscal Agent Report, Political/Legislative Update (Superintendent Carter and Mr. Goligoski)

Mr. Carter presented the board with the General Ledger and Distribution Sheet. Mr. Carter advised the board there is a balance of $843,789.70 in the bank with $723,922.09 encumbered so there is $119,867.61 available.
Dennis Dearden made a motion to approve the financial report; Kellie Burns seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 5/0 by Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read, Kellie Burns, Danny Brown and Dennis Dearden
Mr. Carter then shared with the board the legislative update that funds should be available late March or early April for the 2019/2020 funds and the 2020/2021 will be distributed shortly after. If funds are received prior to June, then FFMA will call a special meeting.

Information, Discussion and Action Item: All Current and Possible Future Programs

1. Substitute Consolidation – Stan shared with the board a summary of the Sub Teacher Consolidation showing that there are 421 active subs, the fill rate for December 2019 was 95%. There were many absences because of illness and the highest number of request. Stan advise the board that ESI may be changing to a new system, but it will be shared with the districts prior to any changes and costs will remain the same.
2. Lobbying and Community Organizing –  Rosemary shared with the board her work summary for December through February. She advised the board that she is working with the Spanish speaking communities quarterly. She is working on getting candidates to speak at a forum for the community to attend.
3. Recruiting and Retention – Stan advised the board that the recruiting trip to South Dakota had to be cancelled due to weather conditions that were not safe to travel. The 2^nd trip will be going to Sioux Falls and that is still happening. March 25^th will be the job fair at Yavapai College for districts to attend. Stan provided a breakdown of the retention grant, currently there are 12 payments on hold that total around $19,000, to pay out the current active grantees and sunset the program it will cost $52,551.76. The board agreed to revisit the retention grant in item 8 E.
4. Update from Administrative Fund – Carter advised the board that the admin fund does not need any additional funds at this time and that the only large expense was for the DC legislature trip. Most of the funds have been used for funding the emergency management team.
5. College and Career Specialist – Stan advised the board that Kendra has been made 459 individual advising sessions, 66 school visits, 136 workshops with a total of 1,891 attendees. Stan advised the board that the funding for the next year will need to be addressed in item 8.
6. Yavapai County Education Technology Consortium (YCETC) – Mr. Carter discussed with the board that the YCETC IGA will be reviewed and renewed by June 2020. Mr. Carter let the board know that YCETC is planning on requesting $500,000 in September and another $500,000 in January. These funds will complete the funding requests of districts from 2 years ago in the amount of $870,000 and the additional $130,000 would be set aside for cybersecurity needs. The boar asked if there was a reprioritize to see if the needs from 2 years ago are still relevant. The board expressed concern over the additional $130,000 and the current relevant technology needs of districts. The board agreed that they would like to see a formal proposal prior to the September request including a reevaluation of the technology needs of the districts.
7. Additional Needs of Member Districts– Dennis let the board know that he has had request from member districts regarding Professional Development. The board agreed to discuss PD in item 8.

Information, Discussion and Action Item: Review and Potentially Modify Encumbrance Items and Amounts

1. 1. E-Rate Consultant for Yavapai County Educational Technology Consortium (YCETC) $15,800 annually for Two (2) years $31,600 – Carter shared with the board that the annual E-Rate consultant amount for YCETC is $15,800 and YCETC is requesting that the board approve the next two years for the amount of $31,600. The board agreed to review the $15,800 for another year from July 2020 to June 2021. The board asked where the E-Rate funds go once they are received back. Stan advised the board that the funds that come back are absorbed for partial salary for administrative costs for E-Rate.
   2. E- Rate Costs for all Member Districts for One (1) Year $79,175 – The board had requested at the last meeting the total costs of all member districts. The best number that Frank Vander Horst was able to come up with is $79,175 because there are different E-Rate providers for districts. The board agreed that this request was for informational purposes only. The board agreed to table the discussion and discuss with member districts regarding a RFP for one provider for all districts under E-Rate. The board wanted to clarify that this was an FFMA request to see if the board could possibly cover costs for all districts.
   3. Professional Development for Teachers – Stan received a request from the board to present PD in the amounts of $100,000 $200,000 and $300,000. Currently there is a PD in place for $200,000 for 2018/19 and will exhaust its funds June 2020. The board clarified that the PD is not just for teachers, but for all employees at the districts discretion. Districts only have until June 2020 to use their current PD funds, Stan will send out a reminder to districts. The board decided to further discuss $300,000 for 2 years.
   4. Professional Development for Leaders – Joe Howard, Steve King and Katy Cavanaugh presented the board with a proposal for a countywide Beat the Odds training for districts. There was an informational day for beat the odds and 32 people showed up. There is a need and want for the BTO training. BTO training is for teacher leaders, the training is 24 total days that span over 12-15 months with the first training beginning July 2020. The training would be available to all districts with cohorts no larger than 30 people. The cost of the training for a 30-person cohort is $10,000 per a participant, Arizona Gear Up Program will be granting $5,000 per a participant which would leave a total of $5,000 per participant. The cost for Yavapai county would be between $100,000 and $150,000. Participants receive 6 hours tuition free master’s program or doctorate with NAU. The view of the proposal was for teachers or principals who want to become future leaders. There needs to be a commitment by June 2020 to start a July cohort. The board agreed to offer slots available based on tier of ADM, Stan will work with Katy Cavanaugh and the districts to begin recruitment for the July 2020 cohorts.
   5. Retention Fund Parameters – Board members parameters for the retention grant. The board members agreed on the following parameters: Retention grant moving forward will not cover doctorates, retention grant will only cover district imitated needs for endorsements, teacher certification, and master’s degrees based on possible continued employment.

Dennis Dearden made a motion to approve the parameters as outlined by the board; Stephanie Miller seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 5/0 by Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read, Kellie Burns, Danny Brown and Dennis Dearden

The board revisited the encumbrance needs and reviewed the budget. The spelling bee encumbrance will be exhausted and $896.25 will return to the general fund. The board made the following changes.

Stephanie Miller made a motion to approve $30,000 for the teacher retention grant through June 2020; Dennis Dearden seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 5/0 by Stephanie Miller, Kellie Burns, Danny Brown and Dennis Dearden; Mardi Read abstained from voting due to conflict of interest. 

Mardi Read made a motion to approve $55,102 for Executive Director salary through June 2021; Dennis Dearden seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 5/0 by Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read, Kellie Burns, Danny Brown and Dennis Dearden

Stephanie Miller made a motion to approve Beat the Odds training countywide for all districts for the first cohort to begin July 2020 contingent upon funding; Kellie Burns seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 5/0 by Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read, Kellie Burns, Danny Brown and Dennis Dearden

Stephanie Miller made a motion to approve $201,500 ($7,750) per a district for Lobbyist and Community Organizer through June 2022 contingent on funding; Dennis Dearden seconded the motion; it was unanimously approved 5/0 by Stephanie Miller, Mardi Read, Kellie Burns, Danny Brown and Dennis Dearden

Discussion and Action Item: Topics from the Board for Future Agenda Items (President Brown)

Beat the Odds Update, change meeting day of the week for future meetings, encumbrances

Announce Future Meeting Dates

1. 1. • June 1, 2020
      • September 8, 2020

Open Call to the Public for Future Agenda Items. Requires a written request to speak and is limited to one (1) minute. The board may not comment on these requests.

Action Item: Adjournment

Danny Brown adjourned the meeting at 12:15 pm

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